1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a webbing retaining position adjusting apparatus employed in a seatbelt system, which is designed to protect an occupant in an emergency situation of the vehicle, and adapted to enable adjustment of the position of the seatbelt webbing at which it is fastened to the body of the occupant seated in the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Seatbelt systems are generally arranged such that a webbing is wound up from one end thereof into a retractor disposed at the lower part of a center pillar of a vehicle, and the other end portion of the webbing unwound from the retractor is passed over a slip joint mounted at the upper part of the center pillar so that the distal end of the webbing extends toward the body of an occupant. Thus, the occupant can readily fasten the webbing at optimum positions on his shoulder and waist.
Since the slip joint is fixed at a position that conforms to occupants having a standard body size, the position of the slip joint is not suitable for an occupant (e.g., a child) whose body size is extremely different from the standard, and it is preferable to enable the position of the slip joint to be changed in accordance with the body size of each individual occupant.
There have recently been proposed automatic seatbelt systems which enable the webbing to be automatically fastened to the occupant body.
In one type of automatic seatbelt system, a guide rail is disposed in such a manner as to bend at substantially right angles so as to extend from a roof side member of a vehicle to the intermediate portion of the center pillar, and a slider which retains one end of a webbing is moved along the guide rail in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle by means of the driving force from a drive means.
Accordingly, when the slider is positioned on the side of the guide rail which is closer to the front end of the vehicle, a space is provided between the webbing and the seat, so that an occupant can readily seat himself in the seat.
After the occupant has been seated, the slider is moved toward the rear end of the vehicle along the guide rail. When a predetermined position of the slider on the center pillar in the vertical direction of the vehicle is detected by a limit switch or other similar means, the movement of the slider by means of the driving force from the drive means is suspended, thereby allowing the occupant to be brought into a webbing fastened condition.
The limit switch for detecting a position of the slider at which it is to stop is fixed to the guide rail, and it is therefore preferable, in such automatic seatbelt systems also, to enable the position of the limit switch to be changed so that the webbing retaining position is optimized for an occupant whose body size is extremely different from a standard body size.